


Good Morning Vietnam

by robinasnyder



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Luc/Nick/Hal are triplets, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-05
Updated: 2013-09-18
Packaged: 2017-12-25 16:46:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/955434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robinasnyder/pseuds/robinasnyder
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam Winchester and Hal Campbell have been roommates since the death of Sam's wife Jess, which left Sam alone with a baby girl. Sam and Hal couldn't be closer until they agree to host Hal's brothers Luc and Nick, and Nick's son Barrett for the holidays. Things start to go side ways when Hal realizes that Sam, seemingly perfectly straight Sam who Hal's been ridiculously in love with for a long time, has fallen head over heels for Hal's annoyingly successful big brother Luc.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

This is how Sam wakes up in the mornings:

"GOOOOOOOOOOD MOOOOORNING VIETAAAAAM!"

The first time Hal did it, he's screamed it right into Sam's ear and Sam had jumped-thrown himself out of bed and into push-ups. (Thank you so much Dad and Dean!) Hal seemed to find that pretty damn funny, because after that he woke up Sam screaming different things into his ear for about a week. That ended when Hal realized that being that close to Sam meant that Sam could actually reach him and strangle him.

Also, nothing seemed to be quiet nice enough to scream besides GMV (that was their short hand for it now). But Hal tried. He recorded himself screaming a lot of things and played them all in Sam's ear to wake him up in the morning. Okay, so maybe once or twice he'd done something like play the jaws theme and then pounce on Sam if he didn't get out of bed before the "attack" part of the song came.

They finally settled on GMV, because Sam had it saved on his phone, it always woke him up, and it no longer gave Sam a heart attack. Also, it meant that Hal could sleep in more often, which he was all for. He'd originally started waking Sam up when Hal had been working as a bouncer at a real late night club. He got home in time to wake Sam up and then crash into bed. Now that his hours were a little bit more human, Hal didn't like having to wake up early. Plus, Sam had also gotten another job with better hours. Maybe it didn't pay as well, but it was better.

But that has been a while back, and maybe it's better to back up and explain a few things. First of all, Hal short for Harold, but some jackass in high school had called Hal Hallucifer, and Hal liked that better anyway. If Sam didn't introduce Hal as Harold first, then Hal would hit what he considered his "soul name" first. Second of all, Hal and Sam had been living together for about five years, since Sam's wife Jess had died, leaving Sam to raise their 18-month old on his own. In order to avoid raising baby Mary on his own and on the road like Sam's dad had done with him and his brother, Sam moved in with one of his friends who had some space.

Hal had been Sam's friend from his early years at Stanford, but Hal had dropped out and had every job in the book from Substitute Teacher to Bouncer to Stripper. Sam hadn't meant to live with Hal for so long. Hal and been Brady's friend, and Brady had been living with Hal for a while when he'd gotten money to go abroad. Hal needed to pay rent for the next three months and Sam needed a temporary place to stay.

Eventually Hal and Sam got a bigger apartment, one with three bedrooms, one each for Sam, Hal and Mary. Hal jumped from job to job as he saw fit. Mary was able to go to school at a better Elementary School since the move. Sam taught Government and Economics at a local High School. It's important to understand that Sam would have probably gone on to be a big time lawyer, but he couldn't do an internship and raise a baby. He had passed the bar, but he couldn't really be okay with putting in the long hours his dreams would require when Mary needed him. When she got older, maybe he'd try again. But for now he'd been able to get his teacher's certification with little issue.

Besides the kids being little shits, Sam was way over qualified and, as Hal said, way too hot for that place. Come on, Sam looked like Sam, but he also could practice law, but he was a single dad who still grieved his wife? If he'd previously been a bad boy he couldn't have been hotter. Sam did know how to shoot, but only Hal knew that, and they were both keeping it that way.

The next thing you need to know is that Hal is the youngest of triplets. The other two are named Nick (the oldest) and Luc (the middle). See, the thing about Hal being Hallucifer was because there was already Lucifer. That had been Luc, who'd very politely raised all kinds of hell. Hal hadn't been so polite about it, but he'd never been nearly so affective. Nick had also been "Old Nick" since they were kids. He was actually the first Satan joke of the three of them. Their nicknames had just stuck to them like glue since High School. This may be important later.

Hal does the whole odd job thing. Luc's the real success of the family. The high powered corporate lawyer of multinational food corporation, Sucracorp. Nick's the one with the family. He's got a wife named Sarah, and a seven year old boy named Barrett. (Mary is also seven but this is probably neither here nor there.)

What is most important is that it's nearly Thanksgiving and that Luc and Nick are coming to stay for the holidays. Not just Thanksgiving. Both men are staying from two days to Thanksgiving until a week after New Years. Nick is also bringing his son. His wife will not be joining them. Sam and Hal have yet to decide how their sleeping arrangements will work, except that Barrett is sharing with Mary, and Mary's a lot more okay with sharing than Sam or Hal is.

They also haven't bought the food yet, but since they're still debating over the menu, they sort of have bigger problems to deal with.

"So, Luc comes in on the 10?" Sam asked. "And Nick's in at 11, right? So we should just stay there."

"Yeah, no," Hal said. "Because we still have to buy food."

"We can do that on Wednesday," Sam said.

"I'd really rather not lose my life shopping," Hal said.

"We could go now," Sam pointed out.

"Yeah, but I still haven't heard who's allergic to what yet," Hal said. "And Nick has a recipe for stuffing he swears by and Luc's such a little shit that he'll probably find some goddamn reason to refuse to eat whatever we put in front of him if he hasn't picked it out himself."

"Language," Sam reminded.

It was a losing battle, really. Like how Sam told Hal he couldn't play disturbing songs around Mary anymore after the 500th time he'd found Hal dancing to "Mack the Knife". Instead Luc had found the most disturbing songs he could find in other languages and played them loudly. And then Mary learned to sing the words when neither Sam nor Hal could even pronounce them. And then Mary asked Hal what the lyrics to the song "Oompa Til Du Dor" meant and Hal went and read the English translation off google to Mary. Which would have been fine if the song hadn't been about lynching a guy who'd murdered this woman. And it might have been fine if Kaizers Orchestera's selection of songs didn't include songs about Russian Roulette and men beating their wives and hostile mob takeovers. And then Mary had cried when Sam tried to say she couldn't listen anymore and Sam had folded like a house of cards in a hurricane.

Speaking of, Sam and Hal were playing cards. They liked playing Speed, because it sort of reminded them of playing Egyptian Rate Screw when they were still in school and Brady had still been their friend and Jess was still alive and Rebecca Warren was still living in California and her brother Zach wasn't in prison for murdering his girlfriend and his girlfriend Emily was still alive. They'd all smack the crap out of each other trying to grab cards and they'd go into class the next day looking like they'd had some kind of mini fight club, especially when Jess started wearing her engagement ring.

Sometimes Sam and Hal just marveled that they were the only ones who were still friends, because it had seemed impossible when they were in school. Hal was the asshole friend of Brady's that just followed Brady around and passed out drunk and vomited in Sam's bed, who'd dropped out only a month before graduation when he'd always kept a 4.0 even when he was almost always on something. And Sam was the good boy who studied hard and aimed for the white picket fence and had big dreams and the perfect girlfriend and as far as any of them knew the perfect life.

Hal knew better now, because Sam still talked about his father with lips drawn so tight they'd almost disappeared, but he still kept the man's photo on the fridge and got really quiet whenever the anniversary of his father's death came around. And Sam called his brother at all hours of the day and night and Dean crashed with them a lot and Hal knew that Sam thought of Dean more like his mother than Sam actually thought of his mom like that.

Real fucked up stuff, but then who was Hal to judge? And besides, this is probably too much information for now. Just focus on the fact that Sam and Hal play cards a lot while Mary either sits on the floor and colors or sits on the floor and plays with her Barbies.

"They're coming in Tuesday night," Sam said. "And you can't get a straight answer about what all they want, so our only option is Wednesday. We'll just take them with us."

"You want to take three of me, plus two kids to wander around a grocery store on its busiest day of the year?" Hal asked with a lot of disbelief.

"Ok," Sam started, smacking Hal's hand when Hal tried to steal his card. Hal still got the card but Sam felt better for landing the hit. "First off, I've met Nick. Nick is not like you. For one thing he's responsible."

"Hey," Hal said. But he really wasn't protesting much, because he was really the most irresponsible person any of them had ever met, except when it really mattered: like not letting Mary get hurt. But only during those times was he responsible.

"Second, we can probably leave Nick here with the kids. Third, you're the one who's always complaining about how stuck up your brother Luc is. Wouldn't you like to see him pushing a shopping cart? Plus, he can't turn his nose up at the ingredients if he's been there during the picking process."

"You do have a point," Hal said, smacking Sam's hand. Sam got the card but had to shake his hand to get the feeling back. "You know how I hate that."

"Yeah, but it's best to just admit defeat," Sam said. "And I win this hand," he added when he counted up his cards. Hal cursed to discover Sam was right.

* * *

Hal really had objected to meeting his brothers at the airport. He'd assured Sam that it was going to be a terrible idea to have to make Luc wait for over an hour for Nick to get in. But Sam calmly pointed out that Hal normally liked to make trouble for his family and Hal sort of had to shut up.

They made a sign with giant pink letters and pink glitter for 'Luc Campbell' and held it up and high as they could. They also stood right next to the USO greeters and cheered like idiots for the soldiers who came through. They may have slipped the USO workers a twenty so that when Luc came up they shouted "Luc Campbell, we love you!"

The look on Luc's face was totally worth every penny.

Luc came in first class from New York. He was in a grey pin stripped suit with a white shirt and a light metallic pink tie with a diamond pattern and a little diamond tie clip. He just had to look all elegant for a vacation.

"Harold," Luc said, eyes narrowed as he looked at their sign. "I assume Nick is going to receive the same treatment?"

"Nah, we have a smaller black and white sign for him," Hal said smugly.

"Of course," Luc said. He turned his eyes to Sam who had Mary balanced on his hip. "You must be Sam Winchester."

"Just Sam's fine," Sam said with one of his easy smiles. "And this is Mary. Mary, say hi."

"Hug?" Mary asked, reaching for Luc. Mary had Sam's hair and Jess's eyes and both of their charms combined. They'd yet to find someone who wasn't won by her little girl charms.

Luc set down his bag and scooped Mary out of Sam's arms. "Have you been nice to my silly little brother."

"Uncle Hal's the best," Mary said, wrapping her arms around Luc's neck. She kissed his cheek before becoming enamored of his tie and tie pin.

"You like it?" Luc asked.

"Yes," Mary declared.

"Ok," Luc said. He put Mary down and straightened up. He pulled the tie pin out and reattached the base before handing it to Mary. "You just have to be careful to not take the base off, or you could hurt yourself. Understand?"

"Yes," Mary said, in awe of the pretty trinket in her hand. "Thank you, uncle Luc," she said, suddenly tackling his legs in a hug.

"You don't have to," Sam said carefully.

"No, it's nothing," Luc said with a smile.

"But-" Sam started.

"Sam," Hal said a bit harshly. Luc wasn't nice like that often. Hal didn't want Sam to stumble all over it.

"Thank you," Sam said with a gracious smile.

"So," Luc said. "Shall we get my bags?"

"Sure," Sam said. He reached down and grabbed up Luc's carry on before Luc could pick it up again. "Baggage claim is this way."

"Thank you," Luc said. Sam smiled brightly. Hal relaxed.

Honestly Hal had probably blown everything out of proportion in his own mind. Luc couldn't be as awful as Hal had remembered. And besides: even Hal had been tempered by time and age. Maybe Luc wouldn't be so bad.

It wasn't hard to find Luc's three suit cases. It was more of a pain in the ass to carry them over to one of the cafes. Hal could see Luc pout about having to wait another hour, even though he turned the pout off whenever Sam could see.

"You know, your roommate is quite attractive," Luc said when Sam scooped up Mary and went to walk around with her so she could nap for a while as they waited. "Have you slept with him yet."

"Sam's straight," Hal said. "What do you mean yet? I've lived with him for five years."

Luc shrugged. "Well, I mean, you're obviously pining after him, but I wasn't certain if you'd told him or not. Apparently, no. We're you the one who claimed you could turn the straightest man gay?"

"Yeah, and then I met Sam Winchester," Hal said, rolling his eyes. "I swear. I hit on him every way he could think of and he never was interested. Then he found a girlfriend and that whole sob story followed. Believe me, if he was anything more than a zero I'd have been able to hook him. But he is not interested at all."

"I see," Lucifer said. He sipped his latte.

"Hey, guys," Sam said. "It looks like Nick's plane has come in early. He should be here soon."

"I got him," Hal said, grabbing the totally normal printed sign that said 'Nick Campbell' in big black letters. Luc narrowed his eyes when he saw it. "You boys stay here and play nice."

Nick went and held up his sign. "You got another one?" the woman at the USO asked.

"There's three of me," Hal said with a grin.

"Scandalous," the woman said then started clapping and cheering when a group of soldiers came up the escalator.

"Nick!" Hal called, seeing Nick with two rolling carry-ons and a very sleep little bit at his side.

Nick's smile was thin and tired. He walked over to Hal and let go of the handles of his luggage. He pulled Hal into a hug. Hal returned the hug, making it tight. Nick seemed to sag in his arms before he pulled away.

"Hal, this is Barrett, my son. Bret, this is my little brother, Hal, you remember Uncle Hal, right?" Nick said.

"Hi," Barrett, Bret said. He buried his face tiredly into Nick's jeans. Barrett was normally a lot more vocal, but it seemed jet leg did not agree with him. That and it was nearly 11 and the kid was probably passed out by 8 on normal nights.

"Come on," Hal said. He took Nick's wheeling bags and led him over to the café by the baggage claim where Sam was sitting with Luc. Nick scooped up his son and followed after his brother.

"Hello Nick," Luc said, "Bret."

"Hi, Uncle Luc," Bret said, smiling for him.

"Come here," Luc said, taking Bret from Nick's arms.

"It's good to see you again, Nick," Sam said.

"It's good to see you too, Sam," Nick said. He smiled a little wider for Sam than he did for Hal.

"You two have met before?" Luc asked. Bret was already asleep in his arms.

"A few times," Nick said, reaching out and ruffling Luc's perfectly gelled hair. Luc scowled.

"How about we go get the bags so we can get out of here?" Hal suggested.

"Deal," Nick groaned.

Hal and Nick went and grabbed Nick and Bret's two big rolling bags. Hal couldn't even imagine how Nick had been able to wrangle those four bags and a hyperactive kid for even a minute. He winced to think of Nick, two bags and his son going through airport security in Delaware.

Hal got a trolley for bags while Nick got his bags and they wheeled it over to Sam and Luc and the kids. Nick and Hal got the bags on before Sam handed Mary over to Hal to hold while he went and got the car. Sam had brought his pick-up truck. It was a clear night, thankfully. It was no problem loading the bags into the back. It was something of a tight fit to get four men over six feet and two kids into the passenger part, but they managed and the kids slept all the way home.

Sam and Nick put their kids into bed first thing when they arrived at the apartment. They'd bought Mary a new bed a few weeks before. It was bigger than her previous bed, so she'd have a year or two to grow into it, but Bret would be perfectly fine on Mary's old bed.

Hal brought in more of the bags, since Luc only brought in two of his. Hal and Sam had finally decided that Luc would sleep in Sam's room, since Sam could more easily fit in a second single, while Hal had the king in his room. They decided that Luc could just deal with the shitty mattress or buy them a new one, and Nick wouldn't care about sharing a bed with his brother for a month and some change.

"Night Sam," Hal mumbled. He felt tired after all the movement, even though he normally was up later.

"Night, Hal," Sam responded smiling before he left the living room to collapse into bed.


	2. Chapter 2

This is how Sam wakes up in the mornings: 

“GOOOOOOOOOOD MOOOOORNING VIETAAAAAM!” 

This is not how Luc likes to wake up. 

“What the hell is that?” Luc snapped, bolting right up in bed. 

“Sorry,” Sam said, scrambling to turn off Hal’s voice during the creepy devil laugh part of the alarm before it started over with the shouting. Sam breathed a sigh of relief when he got it off. “Sorry. I’m a heavy sleeper. This always gets me up.” 

“I imagine so,” Luc grumbled before he flopped by down in bed and rolled over. “Wake me up when there’s a real war.” 

Sam laughed and ducked into the bathroom attached to his room. He left the door open to the bedroom, but just a bit. The vent in his bathroom was shit on a stick, so unless he wanted his bathroom to become a sauna he had to keep the door open. Normally he’d keep it wide open, but Luc was there and Sam didn’t know Luc. He wouldn’t care if it was Hal.

He showered and brushed out his hair. He walked back in his underwear to find his jean and a tee shirt, only to find Luc awake and staring at him. 

“For the record, this is how I like to be woken up in the morning,” he said with a smirk. Sam went real red. 

“Yeah, well joke’s on you because the vent does work so well, so you have to shower with the door open, and if you leave the door to the living room open when you’re showering I will kill you.” 

“How come?” Luc asked. “You don’t seem to worry about exhibitionism.” 

“Because I don’t walk around naked in front of my kid. And I know Nick will kill you if I don’t,” Sam said, pulling on his pants. 

“Point,” Luc said. He yawned and flopped back on the bed with a very audible flump. 

“Don’t get too comfy we have to buy groceries this afternoon.” 

“Let the poor over worked lawyer have his well earned rest. I’m on vacation,” Luc grumbled into his pillow. 

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Sam said with a smirk. He walked to Luc and pulled the blankets back up, settling them around Luc’s shoulders, which had tensed when Sam started to fiddle with the blankets. 

“What are you doing?” Luc asked into his pillow. 

“Tucking you back in for nap naps. We’re going to have a early lunch at 11 and then go shopping, so sleep while you can. And you have to come.” 

“Why can’t you just take Hal?” Lucifer groaned. 

“Because Hal is coming and it’ll be faster with more people.” 

“Then take Nick,” Luc groaned. 

“We’re gonna leave him here to play tea parties with Mary and Bret,” Sam said with a grin. 

Luc shuddered. “And they call me Lucifer,” he grumbled. “Let me sleep in peace, heathen.” 

“Ok, but if Mary wants to come jump on you, I’m not going to stop her,” Sam said with a laugh. He pulled his shirt on and headed for the door. 

“It’s forgivable with her, she’s a kid,” Luc said. 

“Good,” Sam said. “Oh, and Hal tends to blast music pretty loud.” 

“Go!” Luc ordered, burying his head under his pillow. 

Sam chuckled and walked out to the living room. Hal was already up, thumbing through one of the Vonnegut books Sam always kept around for whenever Dean dropped by. 

“Wow, you’re quiet this morning,” Sam said, flopping down next to Hal. Hal put his arm around Sam’s shoulders and Sam just shook his head. He was used to Hal at this point. 

“I didn’t want to wake the kids, and Nick would probably murder me if I started music before he was ready to wake up,” Hal said. He used his thumb to turn the page. Dean hated it when Hal did that because reading one handed like that fucked with the spine. 

“Question: which one of you is the most terrifying?” 

Hal scoffed. “Easy, it’s Nick, no question.” 

“He seems like the… I don’t know, the most normal.” 

“Yeah, but only because you don’t know him. Luc’s a devil with a smile, and I’m just me. But Nick never, ever gets caught, not when he doesn’t want to be. I’ve never known all what he’s done to me, or even if he’s done anything and he’s just making me think he’s done something. You fuck with him and you get return psychological warfare. I’ll fuck with Luc all the time, but I’m gonna be nice to my big brother because I want him to be nice to me.” 

Sam chuckled. “Nice to know where your head is.”

“I know, right, it’s strange with me,” Hal said with a huffing laugh. 

Both Sam and Hal froze, hearing little voice from the bedroom. “Looks like the zoo is up,” Sam whispered. 

“Do you want to tame the wild tigers or fight with the evil kangaroo?” Hal asked. 

“I’ll take the tigers. You go wake your brother up,” Sam said. He got up and went to Mary’s room. 

Mary was already awake. She had Brett had met a few times and apparently that was all that was needed for her to be willing to play with him. They were quiet when Sam came in, but knowing Mary that would last all of five minutes before her excitement took over and her play would become loud and boisterous. 

“Good Morning,” Sam said. 

“Morning, Daddy,” Mary said dutifully before turning back to her toys. 

“Oh no,” Sam said. He scooped Mary up, making her whine a bit. “Come on, let’s get you dressed.” 

Mary fussed like she always did, but in her heart she was a good girl and gave up easily enough. Sam didn’t count it as a victory anymore. For one thing she wasn’t going to need him to help her much anymore. She could probably take care of her own dressing already if he didn’t insist on helping. He was already hearing things about some girls starting puberty as young as third grade. The kids started getting “the talks” when in 4th-5th now too, which terrified Sam. 

It felt like he’d just blink and suddenly she would start changing into a woman and she wouldn’t need or want his help getting dressed in the morning and then she wouldn’t want to talk with him about school anymore. He missed her babble from when she was younger. Already her voice had changed from the baby voice he remembered from only a few years before. 

Now she remembered lyrics to songs and sang along with them, and she picked her own clothes and wanted to wear orange and brown because someone told her those were thanksgiving colors, so he had her in brown play shorts and an orange shirt that had pumpkins on it (okay, maybe it was recycled from Halloween). 

“Morning.” 

Sam jumped, hugging Mary protectively close to him until he saw it was just Nick… well he assumed it was Nick. Nick went to Bret and started the dressing process as well. Sam relaxed and helped Mary into the vest she’d picked before sending her back to the dolls. 

“Morning, Nick… it is Nick, right?” 

“Strange to see three of us around?” Nick asked, sounding grumpy but amused. 

“Yeah… well, I mean, Hal has his ears pierced and Luc has one of them pierced.” 

“We did that in High School so everyone could tell us apart,” Nick said. He started fingering his earlobe. “Except that we all got our ears pierced and so everyone was really confused for a while. That was pretty funny actually.” 

Sam laughed at the mental image. “Did you guys pretend to be each other?” 

“Constantly,” Nick said. “Even when I let mine heal over and Luc let one heal. Jesus, it was bad. One time I had everyone convinced that I was Luc, and Luc was Hal, and Hal was me and that we’d been pretending from day one and even our parents were so confused. They all thought that we’d just pretended the whole time and that suddenly they needed to relabel all the records going out to Universities, but they weren’t sure who any of us were, so they just sent the records that had been original and all of us got accepted to the same schools, so it almost didn’t matter, because he traded of deciding who was going to go where. Our mother got so mad she just started calling us “you” for like our entire last month of being at home.” 

Sam couldn’t breathe he was laughing so hard. He had to sit down. Mary looked worried at him for a minute and walked over, patting his knee before walking back to her toys and Bret. It just made Sam laugh harder. 

“Damn, are you trying to kill him?” Hal asked, coming up behind Sam and pounding on Sam’s back. 

Sam’s laughter turned into coughing, but he could at least get that under control. He was still giggling. “You were all terrible people.” 

“We still are, Sammy boy,” Hal said, rubbing Sam’s back like and apology.

“Go started breakfast,” Sam ordered. “And I request and acceptable English-only playlist.” 

“You’re xenophobic,” Hal called as he flounced out of the kids’ room. 

“English only?” Nick asked. 

Sam shook his head. “I’m just not in the mood for angry German this early in the morning.” 

Nick seemed to think about it. “Me either,” he said and scooped up Bret. “Come on, Kid, let’s set you up in the living room so I can make sure Uncle Hal doesn’t burn down the house.” 

“Deal,” the kid said. 

Sam chuckled and grabbed Mary. There was a little play castle out in the living room. Once they let the kids down they made a b-line for the toys. Of course before there even got out to the living room loud music started to blast through the apartment. 

“IIIIIIIIIII like to put my fingers on you!” Hal sang along with the song. “IIIIIIIII like to put my fingers on you. IIIIIIIIIIIII like to paint a picture for you.” 

“Is he like this all the time?” Nick asked, wincing. It wasn’t that Hal sang bad, but he was Hal, so he couldn’t have been more suggestive. 

“Every day for five years,” Sam said. “Especially since Spotify became a thing that existed. 

“Hmm,” Nick said. “Good luck with that.” 

“Gee, thanks,” Sam said, rolling his eyes. 

“Hey, Hal, you think you could pick another song?” Nick asked. 

“Oh God,” Sam groaned. Hal smirked and changed the song. Sam groaned harder when he heard the familiar tune. 

“Bada ba bada ba ba, bada ba bada ba ba,” Hal started. 

“This is his default change,” Sam groaned into his hands.

“I shoulda known when I got you alone that you were way too into me to know. This isn't love boy, this ain't even close, but you always think we're something that we're not. And now you call me every single night. I only answer cause I'm too polite. We happened once, or maybe it was twice. Yeah, you always make it hard for me to stop, but you always think we're something that we're not.” Hal sand, starting to sway hips. “Sam, Sing!” Hal ordered. 

Sam did no sing. But Mary did. Mary knew the song by heart because of how damn often Hal played it. It wasn’t that Sam even disliked the song the first few times he heard it. But there was only so often any man could listen to anything. Sam was still unable to listen to “Stairway to Heaven” because Hal one time sang it for ten hours just to prove that he could. 

“You wanna be more than just friends. I can't go through this again. Stop trying get inside my head. Don't wanna do more than hookup. It's getting stupid cause I shoulda known but I forgot. That you think we're something that we're not,” Hal sang. 

With Hal it was never just singing. He danced. He didn’t dance like a thirty something either. He danced like a pop singer might dance, but he didn’t bother with the shame that might have made it embarrassing. He put his whole body into it, especially his hips. Hal’s hips were pornographic even in pants. It was so much worse when he started to mix belly dancing with Britney Spears. Hal dipped and came up, swung his head around like he had long hair, used up all the space around him. Yet somehow he never got burned or burn the food. 

“What the hell is that?” Luc snarled, standing in the door way of Sam’s room in his pajamas. He looked like he wanted to launch himself across the room and strangle his little brother. 

“Demi Lovato, “Something That We’re Not”,” Hal called over the music, still dancing. “Hey, you might want to get up. We’re going to the store soon.” 

Luc grumbled something and slammed the door shut. 

“Is he going to get up?” Sam asked. 

“Yeah,” Nick said. “And you wonder why none of us have lived together since we didn’t have to anymore.” 

“No, I didn’t wonder at all,” Sam said, watching Hal dance around and make some of the best French toast Sam had ever tasted in his life. 

“What’s this about the store?” 

“Oh yeah,” Sam said, suddenly realizing he hadn’t told Nick. “We still haven’t bought Thanksgiving food, so we’re gonna go now. Actually we were wondering if you’d stay home and watch the kids?” Sam offered with a hesitant smile. 

“Gladly,” Nick said, looking relieved. 

“You can’t hate us that quickly!” Hal said, still dancing. 

“Not you,” Nick said, rolling his eyes. “I hate grocery shopping, especially for a lot of food. Sarah has ordered me to stay home after the third year of our marriage.” 

“Speaking of, is Sarah’s business doing okay?” Sam asked. 

“Yeah, why?” Nick asked, looking confused. 

“I don’t know. You’ve just seemed kinda stressed on the phone, and you said Sarah couldn’t come because of business.” 

Nick shook his head. “She’s actually getting pretty popular, which is why she can’t get away. With Christmas holidays and all. She just had us go ahead. Besides, you’re going to want me around once Luc and Hal start getting into the liquor.” 

“I feel like I should resent that,” Luc said. 

Sam jumped. Luc was showered, his hair damp, but he was otherwise dry and he was wearing a white shirt and jeans and looked like a Gap model. 

“The hell? How’d you get out so fast?” Sam demanded. 

“Language Sam, there are young ears,” Hal called from the kitchen. Sam scowled. 

“I don’t have as much to wash,” Luc said, “Besides, you take a long time to primp.” 

“Gee, thanks,” Sam muttered. 

“Let’s just get this shopping thing over with,” Luc said, going to sit down at the dining table. 

“Order up!” Hal said. Sam sighed and went to pass out plates. 

Brunch wasn’t bad. Okay, it was messy, because it was French toast and peanut butter and syrup and two seven year olds who wanted to have an eating contest. Nick assured Sam he could clean up. “Consider it payment for not making me go,” Nick said. 

It was more like the shopping was a pain. Hal hadn’t been lying when he said that Luc was a picky son of a gun. Sam used to be that picky when he and Jess had been able to be picky, when they’d been first married and were actually making a bit of money and both of them wanted to eat healthy. But that had been a long time before and while Sam might splurge for nicer cheese for Mary, he couldn’t afford the really much healthier food he would have preferred. 

“I’m paying for it,” Luc finally said after the fifth time they’d had to try and haggle about prices. 

“But-” Sam started. 

“No buts,” Luc said. “I’m living at your little hovel for the next month. The least I can do is pay for one dinner. Just accept it and move on.” 

What was when Sam and Hal both decided they wanted to punch Luc. They didn’t, but for a moment the two of them stood on a united front. Then Sam thought about it and nodded. 

“Yeah, okay,” Sam said and he smiled. 

Hal just gave up because honestly he was fine with just grabbing things off high shelves. Sam and Luc could plan everything. Hal had told them what he’d be cooking and what ingredients he was going to need. They could pick the brands. Hal was only slightly less interested in grocery shopping than Nick, but Hal also liked to cook, so Sam normally just got the groceries and split the bill with Hal by the end of the month. 

The shopping mostly wasn’t as horrifying as it could be. And when they got home they got the kids and Nick and Luc to wash their hands and break up bread into smaller pieces for stuffing while Sam and Hal worked on making bacon and thawing their turkey and getting the other parts of the stuffing together. Nick put the kids to bed. Sam washed his hands and left the kitchen long enough to kiss Mary good night and thank Nick for watching her. Nick waved it off, reminding Sam that Sam was making dinner. 

Then Sam went back to the kitchen. Luc crashed about thirty minutes after that, shutting the door to Sam’s room and giving super strict instructions not to wake him until they absolutely had to. 

“You know it’s just cause he wants to be able to be up early to see the parade,” Hal said with a laugh. 

“Hm, yeah,” Sam said. He was busy fussing with the pie crusts (always the worst part of making Thanksgiving, let’s be real). Hal was just happy that he didn’t have to do that so he didn’t worry about Sam’s silence. 

He really probably should have, because Sam was a chatty bastard when he cooked. 

“I may have a problem,” Sam said an hour later when he was changing out the water in the sink for the turkey. 

“How bad? Do I need to break out the bail money?” Hal asked seriously. 

“Not like that, but I’m wishing,” Sam said. 

“Damn… then what?” Hal asked. He stopped what he was doing to focus on Sam. 

Sam sighed heavily and started to wash his hands off. Hal waited, watching Sam stall for time. “Okay,” Sam said finally. 

“Okay?” 

“Okay. Look, I realized I’m like crazy attracted to your brother Luc and I don’t know how to deal with it. And I’m supposed to share a room with him and he wakes up with that crazy sex hair and what am I even supposed to do?” 

“Oh,” Hal said. It was Hal’s turn to stall. 

See, there’s one other thing you may or may not have picked up in the last chapter that you really need to know. Hal is desperately in love with Sam. And he has been since Hal first laid eyes on Sam the first day they met on Freshman Orientation Day. Hal had actually tried to jump Sam’s bones every chance Hal got, but Hal had always been rebuffed. Then Sam met Jess and Hal just assumed “hey, he’s the one completely straight man”. 

So what you need to understand is that it’s a little bit shocking for Hal to hear his best friend/roommate/perpetual crush to admit that not only can he be interested in a man, but that man is Hal’s exact look alike minus one earring, plus a metric fuck tone of cash. 

“I don’t know how to help you,” Hal said. “Cause dude, my brother’s kind of a huge dick.” 

“I know. I’ve heard the stories,” Sam groaned. 

“And you know he only gave the tie clip to Mary because he has so much money it’s literally nothing for him to give away something like that.” 

“I know,” Sam groaned. “I know, I know.” 

“I don’t know, dude. If I’d had known you were all hot for my hot face I might have walked around in more than a towel before,” Hal said with a smirk. 

Sam rolled his eyes. “I don’t know, dude,” he said, mocking Hal’s tone. “You just don’t do it for me. Trust me. You do not have to worry about me lusting after you. It’s just… I don’t know. It’s just Luc.” 

“Yeah, okay,” Hal said and yawned. “Look, Sam. It’s late. I can sit up with the turkey.” 

“You sure?” Sam asked, quirking his eyebrow. “Oh God, I didn’t make you uncomfortable, did I?” 

“Nah,” Hal said. “I mean, who can resist me plus money? I don’t blame you at all.” 

Sam smiled a bit. “Maybe I shouldn’t have said.” 

“It’s fine. Have you thought what you’re gonna do?” 

“Nothing, I hope,” Sam said. 

“I don’t know. It’s been a while since you had anyone,” Hal said. “Look, God I’m spouting crazy…what’s the phrase your brother likes? “Chick Flick moments”?” 

“Do not tell Dean about this,” Sam groaned, hiding his hands in his face. 

“Go to bed,” Hal said. “I can baby sit the turkey for the last half hour.” 

“You sure. We normally play cards,” Sam said. 

“Yeah, it’s late. You work on teacher hours and aren’t immune to sleepiness like I am.” 

“Are you sure I didn’t freak you out. I mean, you’re my best friend and he’s your brother who you haven’t seen in years and this is just the most awkward thing. I shouldn’t have said anything,” Sam groaned. 

“Sam, it’s okay,” Hal said. “You got morning shift with the munchkins. Plus, us smacking each other and cursing is going to wake all four sleeping beasts. We’re gonna pair up against those losers for Spades tomorrow night anyway. Save your luck for then.” 

Sam smiled, relaxing some. “Thanks. I’ll see you too early tomorrow.” 

“Night,” Hal said, waving Sam off. He waited until Sam was gone before leaning against the counter. How was this his life?


	3. Chapter 3

Thanksgiving is a bit like war. At least Hal assumed it was. He'd never been to war, but he'd heard it was a lot of hurry up and wait. That was basically Thanksgiving. He'd wake up early and start getting the turkey ready. It was generally a safer bet to put the pies in early, bake them and the cinnamon buns Mary demanded for breakfast every Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter while the rest of the house was getting up in time for the parade.

The next step was getting the pies and stuff out and the turkey in. Then come the other things, like the yams that he puts in to cook later, or the potatoes, or simply making cream cheese and peanut butter celery sticks. Everything is made at its proper time and alarms go off at carefully coordinated intervals that Sam has to keep track of.

Thanksgiving is the most organized day of the year for Hal and he's more than happy to take the rest of the year off once it's over. He sort of vaguely gets to enjoy the parade, but really the only thing he gets to enjoy is a shower once Sam takes over for the last sprint to the end: getting the shit out and setting the table.

They hadn't really thought of a bigger table this year, because normally their table is too big for the two and a half of them. But this year they have four and two halves. And it somehow ends with Sam pressed up next to Luc, and Hal is on Luc's other side. Maybe Hal would have been on Mary's other side like normal, but she started to scream at him no, because she wanted Bret and Bret had to sit next to his daddy. So Hal found himself sandwiched between his older brothers.

Conversation around the table was light and boring but the food was good, so what did it really matter. Sam got Luc and Nick to help with clean up so he and Hal could watch Barney with the kids. Hal was totally fine with that arrangement. He always spent the second half of Thanksgiving sort of lolling in and out of sleep and clipping coupons for Black Friday.

"Are you actually going out tomorrow?" Luc asked.

"Best day of the year," Hal said with a grin. "Sam, are you going to brave the wilderness with me?"

"I'll go," Nick said. "Sarah normally asks me to come with her."

"Ok," Hal said. He wasn't sure how well he hid his disappointment at the idea of Sam being alone with Luc for hours the next day with no supervision but the kids. In one night all the guilty images Hal had always had of screwing Sam into the mattress turned to nauseating images of Luc screwing Sam into the mattress.

The worst part was that it wasn't even that much of a transition. Luc had always been rough with his lovers the way Hal had always wanted to be with Sam. Because one time Hal had walked in on Jess and Sam and he knew just how rough Sam liked it. And damn Hal wanted to spend half the night fighting to see who got to be on top and kissing it out later lazily and just sleep in the next day.

"Okay, I think someone needs to go to bed," Sam said, hauling Hal up.

"I can do it," Hal snapped, pulling away from Sam. Normally Hal let Sam carry him to bed on Thanksgiving because Sam thought it was funny and because Hal secretly really liked it.

"Aw, you hurt his feelings," Luc said with a smirk.

"Just tired," Hal said and went to bed. He didn't bother to change out of his clothes and he barely cared enough to kick off his shoes before he wrapped himself up in the blankets and went to sleep.

* * *

Black Friday really was Hal's favorite day of the year. Yeah Drifter Christmas (Valentine's Day) was fun and the one day a year that Hal and Dean would team up for to see who could hook the most girls and boys in one night. But Black Friday was greed fueled chaos at its best and Hal slipped in like he'd been born into it.

Hal picked Best Buy for this year's buying extravaganza. He'd done Toys R Us the previous year and he was seriously considering Walmart for the next year. Sam desperately needed a new laptop. It wasn't like Sam didn't know exactly which one Hal was getting him, because they'd talked about it for months and what software Sam was going to need. But Hal figured he could get a few other things while he was there too.

"So, this is the list?" Nick asked, looking over the very short list.

"Well, mostly it's getting Sam's computer," Hal said. He'd guided Nick right up to the front. He sneaked sometimes and sometimes just elbowed his way up to the front. It was still dark out. Hal was buzzing with energy.

"The DVDs are for the kids, I take it?" Nick asked.

"Hey, we're too broke for a blue ray, okay?" Hal grumbled. "I can't even figure out what to do for Luc, since he can buy anything he wanted anyway."

"You know that's not true."

"He gave Mary a diamond tie clip because she thought it was pretty," Hal said with derision.

"That's sweet," Nick protested.

"He did it because it didn't mean anything to him. You know Luc. He never lets anything go that he cares about."

"Why do you care?" Nick asked, pushing his back against the people who were trying to push forward. "Excuse me," Nick said with a kind smile. "But I don't think pushing is very nice. I might lose my balance and get stampeded. I'd really hate to be one of those stories you see on the news every year."

"Sorry," the guy muttered and backed off. Hal rolled his eyes. Nick was the most terrifying of the three of them.

"It's not that I care, it's just deceiving. It's like me giving Mary some cheapy earring I bought cause she things it's pretty. It doesn't really mean anything, except Luc's rich, so it looks like it's something and then he can hold it over people's heads."

"This wouldn't have anything to do with Sam, would it?" Nick asked with a heavy sigh.

"No," Hal said, his face heating up.

"Harold, you've been in love with him for as long as you've known him. When you met him, you called every week to complain about him because your friends and roommates got tired of hearing about him. You called me when Sam moved in because you were afraid that you'd do something wrong and hurt Mary and then he'd hate you. You spent mine and Sarah's wedding chatting up a guy who looked like Sam. You spend more time with him when you boys come to visit than you did with me or Sarah or Bret."

"Shut up," Hal muttered. God, was he really that obvious?

"Yes, you're that obvious. And Sam's just as obvious about the cow eyes he's making at Luc."

"Shit," Hal muttered. He scrubbed his face with his hands. "He's just amazing, Nick. You don't get it. He had all these dreams and he believes in them. He will go and become a public defender once Mary's old enough that he doesn't have to worry about always being there for her. He didn't want to teach, but he cares so much about his students and it hurts him when he can't help them. He hates failing people, but he does even though there's more and more pressure on him to not. He's so good with Mary and he loves her so much. And he trusts me, me to take care of her and to bring in my part of the rent. He actually likes me. How often does that even happen?"

"You had friends before," Nick pointed out.

"Not like Sam. I just know we're going to be friends until we die. It's not that I don't want him to be happy. Man, if he found any other guy but he had to fall for my evil twin, when I'm right there all year round, begging for him to take me and he doesn't even notice."

"They're unlocking the doors," Nick said.

Hal nodded and shifted his attention. He dove into the store the second the doors opened and ran to the laptop section, finding the one Sam wanted before he sprint to the geek counter to have them format it the way Sam wanted. Nick was already waiting there, first in line. That had been the plan. They'd mapped it all out. Nick would politely talk to the geek people until they did as he wanted, length of line be damned.

Hal went off on his other missions, picking out a new MP3 player for Nick before going to pilfer the DVDs. He got the DVDs Mary wanted first before he started browsing for Sam. Sam liked documentaries, and often watched the History channel when they weren't talking about aliens. Since Hal had talked Sam into the upgrade Sam had gravitated more to the Military History Channel and the International History Channel because unlike History Channel and H2 they didn't just show things about aliens. Nick picked out the box set for "The Story of Us" and _Vikings_ , because he knew Sam would like them.

Hal very specifically did not think of Luc. He'd worry about Luc later. Hal only had his household to buy gifts for. He normally didn't even bother sending Luc anything, though Luc always sent him something. But Luc didn't need much. Hal did have Nick's list as well, and he plucked out the movies that Nick wanted, getting blue ray where indicated.

Hal got into the line with his basket and arms full. New movies was always a big deal in their household, especially because Mary liked to watch so many things over and over again. Nick sidled up next to Hal about the time Hal was at check out. They paid, pissing everyone off for Nick's line jumping until Nick calmly thanked them for their patience.

It was more of a hassle to get out of the store than anything else.

"So, now what?" Nick asked.

"I didn't get anything to make cider, so we need to stop by the grocery store. Also, candy canes and eggnog," Hal said.

"Okay," Nick said, pulling the car out of the lot. "Sam's probably going to ask you for help with Luc,"

"Fuck, I'm glad you're driving," Hal groaned. He felt like he'd died. His heart had stopped for a moment and if he'd been driving he would have slammed on the breaks.

"I know," Nick said.

"Oh God, what do I do?" Hal groaned.

"You don't have to help him," Nick said.

"Yeah, but he hasn't even wanted to date anyone since his wife died. He came out with me sometimes, hooked up once or twice, but it doesn't make him happy. He's so lost on Luc. Oh God, I can't just tell him no. I want him to be happy."

"You think Luc will make him happy?"

Hal snorted. "I think Luc will suck him dry like a vampire and then Sam won't even want to look at me because I look just like him."

"Then don't help him."

"How? He's in love, like badly. He fell like this for Jess, one look and gone. If I get in the way he's going to hate me."

"If it ends badly he'll hate you for not warning him," Nick pointed out.

"What do I do?" Hal whispered.

"You could tell him how you feel," Nick suggested. Hal laughed bitterly.

"He'll think I'm joking. Or worse, he won't and then he won't feel safe around me anymore. He knows how I treat my conquests."

"And he knows how you treat him," Nick pointed out.

"Fuck," Hal groaned. "Fuck. Oh God. I have to help him, Nick. I have to… but maybe I can try to convince him otherwise along the way, maybe show him who Luc really is."

"That might backfire in the worst way via every Romantic Comedy ever."

"I know, but it's my best option for now," Hall groaned into his hands as they pulled into the Kroger's parking lot. He was so screwed.

* * *

"How was Thanksgiving?" Sarah asked.

"It was good. Hal's a good cook," Nick said, adjusting his grip on his phone. They'd gotten home from shopping and Hal had gone for a walk to avoid seeing Sam and Luc laughing like children as they played princess at a tea party with the kids. Even Nick had to admit that they looked like a happy family.

"How's Bret doing?"

"He's happy. He and Mary love each other very much. They picked right up where they left off and are thick as thieves." If only relationships could stay that easy.

"That's good." Sarah's voice sounded tight.

"How's business going?"Nick asked, tapping his fingers on Hal's bedspread. It was purple and shiny and Nick already missed the quiet blue of the one he had at home with Sarah.

"Oh, you know," Sarah said vaguely.

"How's Chet doing?" Nick asked. He couldn't even sound accusing anymore. He just sounded tired.

"Oh, he's good," Sarah said. He was tired of her words sounding like she was apologizing.

"That's good," Nick said quietly. He rubbed his fingers over the shiny material, tracing the abstract, curling golden threads embroidered into the bed spread. His one at home with Sarah wasn't as old and it didn't look like he'd stolen it from a fortune teller. It had alternating dark blue and light blue stripes on white… well it was off white now from washing and use.

They'd lapsed into silence and Nick hardly noticed. He felt so heavy it was starting to feel a bit hard to breathe and he was feeling it all the time now. Bret wasn't even making him feel better anymore, because Bret had Sarah's dark hair. He had Sarah's nose and he had Nick's chin and he looked so much like them both. He was a union of love; that was how Nick used to think of him. He still did, but the thoughts didn't used to hurt so much before.

"Well," Sarah started and trailed off for a moment before her voice found its strength. "Tell Bret I said hi, and call before bed so I can speak with him."

"I will," Nick said. "Have a good day, Sarah. I love you." It sounded wrote in his own ears.

"I love you too," Sarah said, and it sounded even more perfunctory than his words had. "Talk to you this evening. Bye Nick."

"Bye," Nick said. He waited until she hung up. He didn't wait long. He put the phone down and sat still. It had been too short a phone call. If he went out now they might figure it out. Besides, Hal wasn't the only one who didn't want to see the "happy family" out in the living room.


	4. Chapter 4

Sam felt giddy now. He was starting to feel giddy all the time. It seeped into everything. It had started out when Luc had just looked at him and smiled, and then it spread to just Luc's looks, or when he was smiling at someone else. His smiles were rare though, so that wasn't so odd and Luc looked at people like when he saw them his whole world focused to just them. It was hard not to feel special when he did stuff like that. It didn't mean much.

But then Sam felt happy when Luc brushed against him, or handed him potatoes, or came into the room, or spoke to Mary. And now Sam felt giddy when the phone rang, even though Luc was sitting next to him and there was no way he could be calling. He felt giddy when they put on _Cats Don't Dance_ for the one millionth time because Luc had never seen it and Sam was more than happy to induct someone into the club of horrors. He felt giddy when he was cleaning the kitchen because he could see Luc playing with the kids after they'd had lunch. He felt giddy when Hal and Nick got back because it was like there were more Lucs there. And He felt even better when Nick locked himself into Hal's room and Hal left for a walk because then Sam had Luc all to himself (well, himself and the kids) again.

"Are we having left overs?" Luc asked Sam.

"Well, that's why we spent so much money on food," Sam pointed out.

"Actually, I spent so much money because I wanted better ingredients. And it did taste better, didn't it?" Luc pointed out.

"I think Nick's stuffing recipe helped," Sam said, watching Bret and Mary play with the couple of toy cars that Mary had and that Bret had brought.

"Mary's very strong willed," Luc said.

"The first time I took her toy shopping and we stopped in the boys aisle, she asked me if it was okay for her to be there, and I told her there were no such thing as boys and girls toys, only the ones meant for action and the ones meant for stealthy action."

"Is that why she asked me about James Bond stories?" Luc asked, chuckling to himself.

"No, it's cause Hal had trouble making up bed time stories, so he told her about James Bond movies, minus all the stuff you can't talk to kids about. Mary likes playing spies now and she watches _Spy Kids_ all the time."

"Hal is something of a curse," Luc said, rolling his eyes.

"No, Hal's good. I'm lucky to have him."

"Hm," Luc said, leaning back more into the sofa.

"What?" Sam asked, leaning forward.

"Nothing," Luc said.

"Come on, tell me," Sam said.

"It's just, I don't really know anyone who would say that about Hal," Luc admitted.

"He's my best friend," Sam said with a shrug. "I know what he's like, and I know how hard he is to get close to. There's no way I would have known if I hadn't ended up living with him… and honestly, while I don't wish that Jess was dead, I would have been missing something if I'd never made friends with him."

"You're just missing something else," Luc said.

"Yeah, but it's a type of missing I know how to handle. Some days it scares me to think of what if I'd gone to a different school, who would I be now? I know I wouldn't have Mary and Hal. I don't want to think of who I would have been… but more terrifying to me is that I wouldn't have even had any idea that I was missing something."

"You're feeling a bit philosophical today," Luc said.

"Don't tease," Sam said, frowning and looking away.

"I'm not," Luc said. He placed his hand on Sam's knee and leaned in closer so Sam felt like he had to look at Luc. "I'm grateful to you. Hal loves you so much. Nick and I always worried that he'd wind up dead somewhere because he wouldn't be able to find someone who could love him."

"I do love him," Sam said. "He's my best friend for a good reason." Sam smiled, thinking of Hal's constant play and jokes, and the work he did, and how he seemed so impermanent, which was fine since he had a place to come home to and people he cared about.

"I'm glad," Luc said. "You're good for him. But I do have a question for you."

"Shoot," Sam said.

"Nah," Luc said, shaking his head. "Now isn't the right time," he said, nodding toward the kids playing on the carpet.

"Oh, yeah, ask me later?" Sam asked.

"Of course," Luc said. "We have plenty of time."

Sam nodded, jerking his head up when the door opened. "Freaking rain storm," Hal grumbled. He was soaked all the way through.

"Hal," Sam said, getting up and going to his bathroom, grabbing a towel. He came back, tossing it around Hal's head and shoulders, starting to dry him off. "What happened?"

"What do you think happened?" Hal grumbled. "I was about a half mile home and the heavens opened up on my head. Didn't you notice?"

Sam's face got a bit red. He realized that it was pouring rain outside, loud and hard. "Ah, no," Sam muttered.

Hal tilted his head up so Sam could see his eyes under the towel. "Let me get a shower and we'll set up base camp, okay?" he asked quietly.

"For what?" Sam whispered.

"You and Luc… actually, let's do it tonight when everyone else is asleep," Hal said.

"Really?" Sam asked.

"The last time you were this jazzed over someone was Jess," Hal said with a tired smiled. Sam grinned, going bright red.

"You're the best, Hal."

"You owe me," Hal said and walked back to his room.

"What was that about?" Luc asked. He grabbed Sam's hips, moving Sam's body so he could duck around him and into the kitchen.

"What was what about?" Sam asked, turning so he could watch the kids play on the carpet. It really was dark out, dark like it was nighttime.

"Your little conference in the middle of the entrance hall?" Luc asked.

"Maybe I'll tell you later," Sam said with a smile. "Only fair, after all." Sam glanced back at Luc.

"Touché," Luc said. "Cream soda?"

"Not really my thing," Sam said.

"Your loss," Luc said, taking a chilled glass mug out the freezer. Sam didn't even know it had been there. Luc poured his drink like an expert, tilting the glass as he poured, though he allowed a little fizz on top before he put the bottle away.

"Hal said you had a cream soda addiction, but I didn't believe him," Sam said.

"It's not an addiction," Luc said with a frown. He took a sip, before licking a bit of fizz from his top lip. Sam felt his face go a bit red and he turned away.

"You know how the saying goes, Potato-"

"Makes a very good fry," Luc said.

Sam wrinkled his nose and looked back at Luc who was smirking. "You're an ass," Sam said.

"Yes, and mine's quiet lovely too, I think you'd like it," Luc said, wagging his finger at Sam.

Sam went really red then. "The kids are right here," he hissed. Although really they were on the other side of the room and seemed not be paying attention at all. But really, who knew with kids.

"Then you shouldn't be talking about my ass," Luc said. He swished around the kitchen island and back into the living room, going back to sit on the couch.

Sam stared after him for a moment before following. Oh yeah, he was definitely going to need help, because right now he was so screwed.

* * *

The war meeting started at midnight. They'd put the kids to bed at 9, and Nick and Luc started up a few more hours after that. Nick crashed first, then Luc. They waited until they were sure Luc was asleep before Hal lit some candles and turned off the lights.

"This looks oddly romantic for a war meeting," Sam said.

"It's more like a séance in my mind," Hal said. "But it's also darker, so Luc's unlikely to wake up and ear us."

"God, I hope he doesn't wake up," Sam groaned into his hands. "I'd hate for him to come out and hear me talking to his little brother about the sex positions I want him in."

"Ok, to be fair I never want to hear what sex positions you want him in. He looks too close to me for that to be anything but creepy."

"Sorry," Sam said. "He's just… okay, I know every story you've ever told me, and I know he's an ass. God, he's such an ass, but I just want to grab him and kiss him."

Hal huffed and rolled his eyes. "Look, I'm your best friend and I'm on your side for this, but you got to know that Luc has never had a long term relationship as far as I know. It's possible, hell, even highly likely that he will break your heart. So we're gonna go about this to try and keep that from happening, but I'm only adding another ten percent to your chances on this one."

"I get it, Hal," Sam said. He didn't want to think about Luc just using him a few times and then leaving, Not with how much Sam wanted him.

"No, you don't," Hal said. "Sam, you absolutely can't tell Mary."

"I wasn't planning on it," Sam said.

"No, I mean for a while. Mary is horrifyingly perceptive, something she got from her mother and I should know because I'm normally the one she's perceiving."

"Hal, you're an open book. Even Dean can read you," Sam said, rolling his eyes.

"Dean's actually real good at reading people when he wants to be," Hal said.

"Yeah, uh-huh," Sam said, agreeing so Hal would get on with it.

"What I mean is that it's one thing for Luc to break up with you and you to be heartbroken. It's something else entirely for you to tell Mary she's going to get a second daddy and then Luc runs off. So I'm telling you no on telling her."

Sam nodded. Hal was right. It would hurt him enough if Luc left. But if Luc left and made Mary cry, especially if she was only crying because Sam had told her how important Luc was, that would just make it all so much worse.

"Alright," Sam agreed.

"The second thing you need to do is remember that Luc's only here until January and then he goes back to New York. Luc's a blood sucking lawyer and always will be."

"Hey, that's what I want to be," Sam pointed out.

"Yeah, but you're on temporary hold and Luc's actually doing it and has been doing it for a while. He's making good money there and I can't imagine him quitting his job, or moving to a different company out here."

"Speaking of," Sam said. "Why in the world is he out here if he loves his job so much." He had been wondering that since Hal said Luc was coming as well for this extended holiday.

"Luc's a workaholic. As far as I understood they made him use his vacation days from all the years he's been wracking them up. Which I imagine they're going to have to make him do again in a few years. So you know he's not going to be coming out here often."

Sam's heart sunk a little bit. "Yeah."

"Do you still want to try with him?" Hal asked.

"Yeah," Sam said a little stronger.

Hal sighed heavily. "Okay, then I'll help you. But you have to be careful. I have a hard time believing this will end any other way except pain for you."

"I know," Sam said, reaching out and gripping Hal's hand. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet," Hal said but he was smiling a little bit.

"So, now what?" Sam asked.

"Now, we make a plan," he said, taking out a notebook. It already had like a million notes in it. "In here are all the things I could think of that Luc liked and didn't like," he said, flipping a few pages until he got to a blank page.

"So, first thing that's going to happen is that me and Nick are going to stay with the kids tomorrow and you're going to take Luc out Christmas Shopping."

"What if he has everything already?" Sam asked.

"Well, you don't. Ask him for company. Tell him I'm being unreasonable and won't come. He'll believe that," Hal said.

"What about Nick?" Sam asked.

"Nick refuses to Christmas shop until December. Black Friday is more like a sport for him than shopping and Luc and I both know that, so he won't even think to question it. Just turn your puppy dog eyes on him and he'll be helpless to refuse."

"Oh come on," Sam scoffed.

"Sam, do not underestimate the power of your puppy look. You have any idea how much I've bowed under that look? Or Dean? Or Jess? It's a force to be reckoned with."

Sam shook his head and sighed. "You think Jess would mind?"

"It's been over five years," Hal said, but his tone was gentle. "She loved you very much. This is the first time you've shown interest in anyone since she died. I wasn't joking when I said you're acting just like you did when you started dating Jess. I remember Sam. It's the same nervous giddiness that you had before. It's why I'm helping you now. I know this is important."

Sam felt oddly touched. Hal didn't do serious that often. He did annoyed or joking a lot. But he didn't do genuine.

"Thank you," Sam said.

"Again, don't thank me yet. You can thank me when you and Luc die old men in your beds," Hal said.

Sam smiled a little bit. "Okay, where do I go tomorrow?"

"Avoid the toy store," Hal said. "If he suggests it you can go, but you know it's insanity this weekend."

"I know," Sam said. "So, the mall?"

"I don't know what you need, Sam," Hal pointed out.

"Oh," Sam said, suddenly realizing why this was a really good idea that he'd probably have thought of later on his own. "Okay, I have a place I need to go tomorrow."

"Okay, good, you do that. And remember to clip coupons," Hal said, jotting down notes.

"Really? Are coupons sexy?" Sam asked with a little smirk.

"They're good for saving you money. Sam, don't be a hero. Luc is stinking rich and there's no way in the income of you, me, your brother, and Nick could compare. So don't bother. You are who you are."

"Wait are you telling me to just be myself?" Sam asked, smiling a bit.

"One thing I know about relationships is that playing a part to win someone over is a bad idea."

"Then why the strategizing?" Sam asked.

"Doesn't mean it doesn't hurt to be prepared. Come on, you were the one always harassing me to study. If you show you can be thoughtful you might make him interested enough that you can keep him long enough to push past his bullshit," Hal said.

"Okay, okay, you win," Sam said, holding up his hands in defeat.

"You're damn right I do. Also, we're having waffles for breakfast tomorrow."

"That's fair," Sam said. He was the one who made waffles and Hal was the waffle addict. Hal couldn't normally make him make waffles. But Hal was helping him, so Sam owed him a huge favor and a lot of little and medium ones in between. "Now, what's next?"


	5. Chapter 5

“So, what are we doing here?” Luc asked, scrunching his nose. 

“I’m sorry the mall is too pedestrian for you,” Sam said. 

“Not that,” Luc said. He did look happy to be moving away from the food court. “Why here.” 

“Hal has been wanting this leather jacket for years. This company puts out the same type every year and I’ve been saving up for a while… but it’s sort of… fitted.” 

“Ah, you need me to play dress makers dummy,” Luc said. 

“Yeah, kind of,” Sam said, wincing. This seemed like such a better idea in his head. 

Really, he wanted Luc to be thinking about him, not thinking about him thinking about Hal. And while this was probably the most high class mall that Sam could still get to within a few hours’ drive, it was kind of far away. Sam honestly hadn’t known where the time went in the car. It hadn’t been so hard to talk to Luc the day before. But then Sam hadn’t been trying to impress Luc the day before. 

No matter what Hal said, Sam didn’t think for a second that he was really good enough to keep Luc. Luc was rich and powerful and accomplished and very attractive. Sam knew he was a catch on looks and mind, but he wasn’t wealthy and Sam didn’t think even his good looks would help him get through a business function, should Luc ask him to attend. 

Why had this been a good idea again? 

“It’s nice,” Luc said and Sam realized he probably hadn’t been listening. 

“I’m sorry, I zoned out, what is?” Sam asked. 

“How much you care about Hal,” Luc said. He smiled and it was easy and Sam relaxed. “He was always so destructive. Nick and I had out bets on him not making 30, but then one day Nick gets this phone call. You see, Hal was terrified when you moved in. He thought he was going to break Mary and Nick had Bret so he called and begged for information, for books he could read, for help.” 

“Oh God, I remember walking in on him reading What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” Sam said, suddenly remembering in vivid detail how carefully Hal had touched Mary at first, and only with Sam’s express permission. “He started to cry the first time Mary cried when he was holding her because he’d thought he’d hurt her and was so scared. He kept apologizing,” Sam said, laughing at the memory. 

Luc laughed too and Sam felt his ears getting warm. Luc had the best laugh. It was like Hal’s reckless abandon, but so confident. It just sounded perfect. 

“It used to be that I’d get these phone calls. Hal would be on like everything you can think of, I don’t even know what he was on, really. But you moved in and I stopped getting drunk calls at three in the morning. You cannot believe how relieved I felt. Partly because I was no longer exhausted for important meetings.” 

Sam chuckled. “Yeah, he did that in college too.” 

“Yeah, which is why I was surprised and curious about you when I first met you. I know I mentioned it yesterday, but Hal needed someone to care for him. You’re good for him,” Luc said. 

“Well,” Sam said. “Hal makes it very easy to care about him.” 

Luc snorted. “Not in my experience.” 

“Well, it’s not hard to read the signs,” Sam said. “He’ll curl up next to me on the sofa and I know it means that he needs to be held. He doesn’t ask for those things, but he won’t come looking for them either unless he needs them. He’s easy to love because he soaks it up like a sponge and gives back tenfold. How could I not care about him? He took care of me when I was mourning Jess. He still does. He takes care of Mary. He gets me to play when I’m stressed, he’ll help me grade papers when I’m over run with work.” 

“You sound like you really love him,” Luc said. 

“I do,” Sam said. “I mean, I know it’s not really kosher to say that about your friend, but it’s true. I feel no less strongly than I do for my brother, or that I did for Jess. The only person I ever loved more was Mary.” 

“So, can I ask my question, then,” Luc asked. 

Sam’s stomach clenched and he forced an easy smile. “Fire away.” 

“Are you in love with Hal?” Luc asked. 

“What?” Sam asked before laughing. He stopped walking and Luc stopped a few paces away. 

“I don’t see why that’s worth such hysterics,” Luc said. Sam was having trouble stopping his laughter. Of course Luc’s pissed tone helped, though Sam kept having giggles tug at the corners of his lips. 

“It’s just… that’s why I don’t tell people how I love Hal. I’m not in love with him. But I love him,” Sam said. 

“Oh,” Luc said, looking thoughtful. 

“I actually have someone else I’m interested in,” Sam said quickly. “Hal’s helping me figure out what to do.” 

“This person must be special is Harold agreed to help. Or you must be especially bad at romantic advances.” 

Sam shrugged, going totally red. “Probably a bit of both, I think. I haven’t felt this away about anyone since I met Jess… and she was the first one I cared about so much. Brady introduced me and Jess, and she could just like read my mind. Or maybe the way I went from being very articulate to tripping over my own tongue around her tipped her off.” 

Luc laughed at it was an even more glorious sound than this previous laugh, which Sam realized had a crueler edge to it because it was about Hal’s pain. But this was just sheer amusement and Sam was glad for the subject matter because he could go as red as a tomato and Luc not have to wonder why. When it came down to it, Sam wasn’t ready to tell Luc yet. He didn’t know if Luc could like him back the same way. 

“So tell me,” Luc said, wiping mirthful tears from the corner of his eyes. “Do you still turn into a stammering mess around the person you like?” 

“So far so good,” Sam said with a relieved smile. 

“I wish you luck on your conquest then,” Luc said, starting to walk again. Sam stared after him for a minute before he ran to watch up. 

“It’s not a conquest,” Sam said. “I really like this person. I want them in my life like I wanted Jess in my life.” 

“Oh, you do have it bad then,” Luc said with a little smirk. “Does this person have any idea of how you feel.” 

“I hope not,” Sam said. “I’m not ready to tell them.” 

“Do they like you?” Luc asked. 

“I have no idea,” 

“No wonder you need help,” Luc said. 

“I’m working on it,” Sam grumbled. “Look, can we just go get this jacket.” 

“Sure,” Luc said. “So, what are you getting Nick.” 

“I’ll take Nick or Hal out for that,” Sam said, laughing a bit. “Or maybe I’ll knit it, who knows. Since you are, according to your brothers, the man who owns the world.” 

Luc chuckled, but it sounded a bit bitter. “I’m not so wealthy as they’d like to believe me to be.” 

“You make more than me, Hal and Nick combined… so yeah, you’re rich.” 

“Well, I suppose when you put it that way,” Luc said, rolling his eyes. “I still want to know what you’re getting me.” 

“Some KY, to help ease the stick out of your ass?” 

Luc laughed. “You’ve been around Hal for far too long.” 

“Or just long enough,” Sam said with a smirk. “So, what are you getting your brothers?” 

“I already bought everything,” Luc said. 

“Really?” Sam asked. 

“Well, everything for them. It’s not impressive, a new scarf for Luc and a new watch for Nick. Earrings for Sarah.” 

“I’m sure they’re nice,” Sam said. 

“They’re easy,” Luc said. “I bought the stuff last year, actually.” 

“Really?” Sam asked, cocking an eyebrow. 

“It’s easier to buy at the after Christmas sales,” Luc said with a rueful smile. “Children are a bit harder. I’m going to talk with Nick about getting something for Bret that isn’t so expensive that he’ll think I’m the best.” 

“I take it you’ve done something like that?” 

“Once. Nick didn’t speak to me for a year. Never again,” Luc said. “I understood once he snapped at me, but I didn’t feel like I should apologize… anyway, history.” 

“Yeah, better to work with him on that,” Sam said. “Are you getting Mary something?” 

“I had a thought, if it’s okay,” Luc said. “Those My Size Barbies are getting popular again. I was thinking of buying one, maybe splitting a bit to get it a few more outfits.” 

Sam grinned. “She’s really been wanting one, but I wasn’t sure I could get it… you know.” 

“Would that be okay with you?” Nick asked. 

“It would be perfect,” Sam said. “Thank you.” 

Luc let out a sigh of relief. “So, have you decide on what you’re getting Nick?” 

“I’m not sure yet,” Sam said. “You have any suggestion?” 

“Not really,” Luc said. “We’re not that close.” 

“Come on, you must know something he’d like.” 

“You probably know him better than I do,” Luc said. 

“I don’t know him that well at all,” Sam protested. 

“Exactly… but you still have time to think about it. And you’ll already have Hal out of the way.” 

“I will if we ever get today’s excursion over with,” Sam said with a sigh. 

“Here’s the store,” Luc said. 

They walked in to the store. Sam felt truly out of place there. Everything was designer and far out of price range. Two years previous Hal had bought him a pair of leather gloves from the same store. Sam loved them. They were fleece lined and very warm. 

It was easy to think of California as LA, which was warm on most days, hot on others. Snow wasn’t something that happened in LA. But California had parts far away from the beach, and a lot closer to mountains, where they did get snow, a lot of snow.

Their part of California didn’t snow all the time, but it snowed and got wonderfully cold, and Sam made good use of his gloves. Sometimes things were worth what their cost, and this store meant quality. But Sam still wasn’t comfortable there. They were looking at him like he didn’t belong. 

Then there was Luc, who was examining shirts, touching them and checking the tags of thread count or something.

“I bet you’ve got like seven of those,” Sam said, looking around. 

“You know, if you stopped looking so guilty people wouldn’t look at you like you don’t belong here,” Luc said, still looking at the shirt. 

“I don’t look guilty,” Sam said. 

“I can feel you radiating guilt. You don’t feel like you belong here. It’s something poor people, do, just radiate that feeling, like they thing we can see through their hearts and into their wallets and realize how much they have.” 

“Wow,” Sam said. “Can’t remember the last time I’ve been so offended. Maybe we should go home and I can get Nick to come out with me instead.” 

“I’m just telling the truth,” Luc said, looking at Sam now. He looked only slightly confused. “You don’t have to get so angry.” 

“And you don’t have to be insulting just because my life didn’t work out like yours,” Sam hissed. 

“It didn’t “work out” like mine because you chose to get married and you weren’t careful enough with your birth control. And you still probably wouldn’t be where I am yet because you didn’t work hard enough.” 

“Excuse me?” Sam hissed. 

“You probably took Summers off, hung out with people. I’m not any older than you are,” Luc pointed out. “I took as many summer classes as I could, overloaded every year, graduated as early as possible, worked at my internships. You’d never have put that time in.” 

“Screw you,” Sam snapped. “Just screw you. I had two summer jobs. I worked during the year. Just because I couldn’t afford to take summer classes and didn’t have the time to overload doesn’t mean that I didn’t work hard, that I didn’t try as hard as I could. I couldn’t afford to do anything but work. And you’re going to tell me how I need to pull myself up by my bootstraps, or how I shouldn’t have had Mary? Screw you. She’s the best part of my life, and Jess was part of that. I’m willing to wait. Just because I didn’t sell my soul to a corporation doesn’t mean I don’t matter, doesn’t mean that my worth is measured on a dollar.” 

“Well, you’re certainly a brilliant orator,” Luc said with a smirk. 

“Just shut up,” Sam hissed. 

“We all have our student loans, Sam,” Luc said calmly.

“Just shut up, Luc. Shut up before I punch you. Let’s just get this damn jacket.” 

To Sam’s surprise, Luc did shut up. Sam stalked back to where the jackets were. Luc dutifully tried jackets on and allowed the store attendants to fit him. 

“It’s nice to buy something for your boyfriend,” one woman said. 

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Sam snapped. He couldn’t stop the hurt he felt in his chest. Hal had warned him. 

“And it’s not for me,” Luc said. “It’s for one of my brothers. We’re just built exactly the same.” 

“I don’t know, it’s not normally-” the woman started. 

“We’d identical,” Luc said. 

“Ah,” the woman said. She practically had a light bulb go off over her head. 

“Yeah,” Sam mumbled. He glanced at Luc. 

Honestly, Luc did look good in the jacket. Luc was wealthy and had everything that went with it. What could he possibly hope to impress Luc? Why did he even plan to bother? There was no way Luc would like him. 

“There,” Luc said, taking off the jacket. “You can pick it up when you take Nick to go shopping for Hal and me.” 

“Okay,” Sam muttered. 

“How about we get one of those big cookie cakes?” Luc suggested. 

“Seriously?” Sam asked, cocking a brow. 

“Well, I’ve never had one. I’m always wanted to try, and the kids and Hal will like it,” Luc pointed out. “My treat,” he added. 

“Fine,” Sam said, walking out of the store with Luc. 

“You’re hoping I’ll apologize,” Luc said. 

“It would be nice,” Sam said. 

“I’m not going to,” Luc said. 

“Yeah, I figured,” Sam snapped. 

“Sam, you’re brilliant. You know how to talk to people. But you’re scared of places like that. People are going to be cruel to you, because people are cruel. If you can’t put up with it from me how are you ever going to be able to win what you want.” 

“This is sounding like an apology,” Sam said. He felt a little lighter. 

“It’s not,” Luc said. “It’s more like a lesson. I like you Sam. I know you can’t just drop everything and take an internship. You might not be able to until Mary’s in school. But whenever I talk to Hal he won’t shut up about you. He’s so proud of you and what you’ve done. I’d like for you to be able to get what you want?” 

“Why?” Sam asked, feeling suspicious. 

“Because you care about my brother. Because Nick likes you. Because of how you handle the kids. And mainly because I just like you, and I sort of would like to go up against you one day. You can be for the state and I’ll be the opposing counsel for the murder or something.” 

Sam cracked a smile. “There I no universe where that would ever happen, not with you in corporate law.” 

“I do pro bono occasionally.” 

“In New York,” Sam said. 

“I think I might move to California,” Luc said. 

Sam stopped in his tracks. “What?” 

Luc kept walking a few paces. When he realized Sam wasn’t next to him anymore he stopped, turned around and returned to Sam’s side. “Sucracrop doesn’t just have offices in New York. And maybe I just want to see trees that exist outside of a park.” 

“You’re really moving?” Sam asked. 

“I might be moving,” Luc said. “I need to be accepted by the California State Bar first, and then I can worry about finding an apartment.” 

Sam felt something light in himself. He felt like he just wanted to float. Luc was going to stay. Maybe they could have a relationship. “That’s great,” he said with a smile. “I’m sure Hal will be happy to see you more often.” 

“B’whaa,” the sound ripped out of Luc’s mouth loud and unattractive. Luc covered his mouth and snort giggled into his hand for a good minute. He had to wipe his eyes and was still chuckling. Sam scowled. 

“Okay, yeah, maybe that was stupid,” Sam admitted. 

“Hal and I would kill for each other, but we’ve never really gotten alone,” Luc said, still wiping his eyes. He was smiling though. “But I think I might like to try and make a few amends if I can.” 

“Awesome,” Sam said with a smile. He knew how selfish it was, but if Luc and Hal could get along then Sam could spend more time with Luc, which he really, really wanted to do. 

“You’ve got a lot of energy,” Luc said. 

“Is that a compliment?” 

“You know,” Luc started, looking thoughtful. “I’m not certain. But we still need to order a cookie cake and shop for your baby. So let’s just get that over with before I change my mind about buying you sugar or setting you lose in a toy store.” 

Sam punched Luc’s arm. “Shut up.” 

“Owie,” Luc said, rubbing his arm, but he was still chuckling. Sam grinned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This updates Wednesdays from now on.


End file.
